April 1st – 2013 Regular Legislative SessioN Day 78

Its Monday in Olympia and in todays Appropriations Committee Meeting were hearing eight bills. Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5176 requires that evaluations for involuntary treatment of individuals who have had felony charges dismissed due to incompetency occur at state hospitals; modifies procedures and standards for involuntary treatment of persons who have been deemed incompetent to stand trial for violent felonies; and provides additional notification and review requirements for release of certain involuntarily detained people.

Substitute Senate Bill 5195 allows a nonprofit institution recognized by Washington to be eligible to participate in the State Need Grant program, effective August 1, 2013.

Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5243 encourages school districts to adopt a policy to automatically enroll a student who meets the standard on the high school state assessments or the Preliminary SAT in the next most rigorous advanced course in that subject, with the objective that students eventually enroll in dual credit courses; provides an incentive award to high schools based on student performance in specified dual credit courses, if funding is appropriated; creates a program to allocate one-time grants to high schools on a competitive basis to expand availability of dual credit courses, if funding is appropriated.

Senate Bill 5337 stays for five years the set decrease in the maximum amount of timber that can be sold by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) through their contract harvesting program; stays for five years the set decrease in the maximum amount of money that can be held in the Contract Harvest Revolving Account; allows, for five more years, the DNR to set the final appraised value for the purposes of an auction based on the current market prices for the valuable material in question; and provides five more years of authority to the DNR to give consideration to requests from timber purchasers when the purchasers request timber sale extensions or other flexible options in the execution of a timber sale contract designed to avoid a contract default.

Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5480 accelerates implementation of provisions of 2010 legislation that expanded the factors that may be considered for detaining and committing persons under the Involuntary Treatment Act, from July 1, 2015, to July 1, 2014.

Second Substitute Senate Bill 5732 directs the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to develop a strategy for the improvement of the adult behavioral health system; requires the DSHS to issue a request for proposals for enhanced services facilities; and requires Regional Support Networks to develop an individualized discharge plan for certain patients and arrange for his or her transition to the community within 21 days of the determination that he or she no longer needs inpatient, active psychiatric treatment.

Substitute Senate Bill 5754 creates the Alliance for Student Success in Education and Training (ASSET) Program to increase access to work-integrated learning opportunities, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and requires the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board to administer the ASSET Program.

Substitute Senate Bill 5834 allows businesses owned jointly by a veteran and his or her spouse or domestic partner to be certified as a veteran-owned business; requires that all veteran-owned businesses are located in the state, owned by a resident of the state, or that all corporate officers are residents of the state; and encourages state agencies to award 5 percent of all procurement contracts to veteran-owned businesses.